New CMS Plugin Offers 7 Preset Custom Post Types for WordPress

WordPress is not a one-size fits all CMS. That’s where plugins come into play to help you tailor-fit your setup for the content types that you’re publishing.

This week I tested one of the coolest CMS plugins to hit the WordPress repository in a long time. My Content Management is loaded with preset custom post types for all different kinds of content, including:

FAQs

Quotes

Testimonials

People

Locations

Glossary Terms

Portfolio Items

Each custom post type comes with an appropriate custom taxonomy and a set of commonly needed custom fields. You can easily enable them through the plugin’s settings page under Settings » My Content Management.

So here’s a quick example of how easy it is to use. Let’s say you want to create a Staff Directory for your business. The first step is to install the plugin and enable the “people” custom post type.

You’ll now have a dashboard menu on the left where you can create new people and categories. Add each person you want to include in your staff directory. Now, create a new page called “Staff Directory”. Paste in the shortcode:

[my_content type='people']

You can now view your “Staff Directory” page and it will display each of the people you’ve added. Styling for the plugin depends entirely on your theme or you can replace the plugin’s default HTML using the included templating system.

Here’s an example staff directory created using this plugin:

The shortcode supports a whole list of attributes for customizing the display of your content:

Display (full, excerpt, or list)

Taxonomy (name of associated taxonomy: required to get list of terms associated with post; include a term to limit by term)

Term (term within named taxonomy)

Count (number of items to display – default shows all)

Order (order to show items in – default order is “menu_order” )

Meta_key ( custom field to sort by if ‘order’ is “meta_value” or “meta_value_num” )

ID( comma separated list of IDs to show a set of posts; single ID to show a single post.)

Since most of the customization can be down through the shortcode, it’s easy enough for anyone to use. I tested it today and it works just as advertised. You’ll instantly get a preset for all of the most commonly created extra content types. Download My Content Management from the WordPress plugin directory.

Sarah Gooding is a partner at Untame, a boutique digital marketing firm specializing in open source content management systems and social networking architecture. She enjoys staying on top of the latest WordPress and BuddyPress news. Get in touch with Sarah on Twitter @pollyplummer